Seafood
Indonesian fish meal
Fish meal is dried and milled fish, made from whole small fish or from processing by-product. It is bought on protein content and rejected on freshness indicators, and both of those are decided by how the raw material was handled before it reached the dryer.
How it leaves the country.
- Whole fish meal
- From dedicated small pelagic catch. Higher and more consistent protein.
- By-product meal
- From processing trimmings. Cheaper, more variable, and the raw material is worth knowing about.
- Fish oil
- The co-product of the same process, sold separately into feed and refining.
How it is graded.
Fish meal is contracted on analysis, and the analysis has to be on the shipped lot. What separates a good supplier is the freshness of the raw material rather than anything visible in the finished meal.
- What to specify
- Protein, fat, ash, salt and sand, moisture, plus the freshness indicators your feed formulator uses.
- Freshness is upstream
- Total volatile nitrogen and histamine reflect how the fish was held before drying. No amount of processing improves them.
- Origin of the raw material
- Whole fish and by-product behave differently in a feed formulation. Name which one you are buying.
How it is packed.
- Bags
- Polypropylene at the net weight your handling expects. Fish meal can self-heat, so how it was cooled before bagging matters.
- Sea carriage
- Fish meal is treated as a regulated cargo by many carriers because of self-heating. Settle the classification with the line before booking.
Where it grows.
Java north coast
Java
Processing capacity alongside the fishing ports, close to the export routes.
South Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Landing and rendering built around Makassar.
Bali and Muncar
Bali and Java
Small pelagic fishery with long-established meal and oil production.
Origins with a protected name.
Names the trade contracts on, most of them on the Indonesian register of geographical indications.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Certificate of analysis
- Protein, fat, ash, salt, moisture and freshness indicators on the lot that shipped.
- Export health certificate
- Where the destination treats it as an animal by-product, which most do for feed use.1
- Safety data sheet
- Needed by the carrier, because self-heating drives how the consignment is classified in transit.
- Certificate of origin
- Which form applies depends on the destination and on the preference scheme in force.
Questions buyers ask.
Why does protein vary between lots?
Because the raw material does. Whole small pelagics give higher and steadier protein than mixed by-product, and species mix moves with the season. Contract on analysis per lot rather than on a headline figure.
What are the freshness indicators for?
They tell a feed formulator how the fish was handled before drying, which affects palatability and shelf life. A meal can hit its protein number and still be poor material, and this is where that shows.
Is fish meal difficult to ship?
It can self-heat, so carriers treat it carefully and some require specific declarations. Settle the classification before booking rather than discovering it at the terminal.
What does your service cost?
Five per cent of the order value, paid by you and never by the factory. A factory audit starts at $250 depending on location. We work with orders from $10,000 per shipment.
Tell us what you need.
Give us the specification and the destination port. We come back with producer options and an indicative price. Our fee is 5 % of the order value, paid by you and never by the factory.
Sources
- 1Entering the European market for fresh tuna. CBI, Netherlands Enterprise Agency. Checked 3 August 2026.